Contra (NES)/Stage 6
Energy zone
Welcome to Energy Zone, the second of the stages mentioned in the previously, although this one is possibly harder than the last one. The first thing you should know is you can make this stage significantly easier if you follow this one rule: take your time; running recklessly through this stage will only get you killed more often.
Head right and shoot the Soldiers that'll come down from the step-like ledges ahead then kill the Sniper waiting near the item container ahead. The item container has a machine gun if you're interested in it. There'll be a Gunner on the ledge on the far right, kill him and then fall of the side to the very bottom and kill the Gunner waiting there. Another Gunner will appear once you reach the break in the middle ledge. Kill him and head right again until you see a large hole and above, a pipe with a small flame popping around.
This is why I said you shouldn't rush through this stage. No, not the pipe, the flame from the pipe, which will shoot out as soon as you try to pass by it. To get through here, you'll have to jump towards the flame so that it shoots out and then quickly jump across as the flame is retreating back into the pipe. If you died, you might as well just jump right across while you're invincible. On the other side, there will be two more Gunners waiting for you. Kill them and prepare for another flame gauntlet ahead. Be careful as you head to the right because there will be another flame here, this time coming from the wall on the far right. You'll have some warning as to when to duck, but do it quickly or you'll be killed. Wait for the flame to retreat then quickly head closer to the wall to the right.
After the flame retreats again, get ready to jump to the middle ledge when the middle flame goes out, and then to the top after the top flame disappears. Once you're at the top, fall down to the bottom on the other side and do it all over again. Are you having fun yet? Once you make it to the top there will be another tricky spot so listen up. Kill the Sniper on the opposite ledge, and then inch forward until the flame above starts shooting out. After it retreats, quickly jump to the other side. Resist the urge to go for the item container below. It's suicide as far as I know because I've never been able to get it consistently without dying. As before, there will be another flame that'll shoot out from the wall on the far right. Inch forward again and then duck when the flame shoots out, then move toward the slightly lower ledge near the wall.
Once you reach the wall, wait for the flame at the top and the middle ledge to retreat and then drop down. Do the same thing to get to the bottom. Note that you'll stand up for second when you drop down so watch out. With that out of the way, you're almost done the stage. Kill the two Gunners ahead and then jump to the middle ledge. Kill the Gunner ahead, jump to the top ledge, and then drop back down to the bottom ledge when you're at the edge. Don't try to fall off the side of the top ledge because you'll never get past the flame just ahead. It extents nearly to the bottom. Once you get past the flame, you'll be in the clear. The boss is just ahead.
Boss: Giant
This guy is pathetic. Seriously. I wonder what Konami was thinking when they came up with him. On another note, this boss looks exactly like the Gunners except that he's much larger. The typical pattern of this boss is to slowly run to the left and then back to the right at which point he'll throw out these little spinning things that move along the ground. The best way to avoid the spinning things is to jump over the first two and then the third one if he does throw it. He'll usually pause for a second because he throws the last one so you have a little time to react. Wait on the far left and start plugging him with bullets and then jump over him whenever he gets close. He'll start changing colors to reflect the amount of damage you've done to him. Eventually, he'll blow up at some point when he's orange/red. Onward, to the next stage.
